Ventures Platform and the Yemisi Shyllon Museum of Art (YSMA), Pan-Atlantic University, are pleased to announce Haneefah Adam as the winner of the inaugural Ventures Platform–YSMA Futures Art Award, a pioneering public art commission established to support artistic innovation and future-focused cultural expression in Nigeria.
The announcement was made during the 10th Anniversary Dinner of Ventures Platform in Lagos, where Haneefah was formally recognized following a competitive national selection process that attracted submissions from artists and art collectives across Nigeria.
As the winner of the Award, Haneefah will be commissioned to create a 12-foot public sculpture titled Bloom in Unexpected Places, which will be permanently installed within the YSMA and Pan-Atlantic University environment.
Selected through a rigorous jury process involving leading artists, curators, scholars, and cultural professionals, the proposal distinguished itself through its originality, conceptual strength, artistic ambition, and thoughtful engagement with the Award’s central theme: Reimagine the future and build into form through art.
The work explores themes of growth, resilience, innovation, and possibility, inviting audiences to reflect on how creativity and human ingenuity can flourish in unexpected circumstances and environments. Through its scale and public presence, the installation is intended to spark conversations about the future while enriching the cultural landscape of the University and the wider community.
The Award represents a landmark moment in Haneefah Adam’s artistic journey. While she has earned recognition for her innovative and socially engaged practice, this commission marks her first institutional award, her first major public art commission, and the largest public artwork of her career to date.
Speaking on behalf of YSMA, Museum Director, Jess Castellote described the Award as an important investment in both artists and public culture.
“At YSMA, we believe museums have a responsibility not only to preserve cultural heritage but also to support the creation of new cultural futures. Haneefah’s proposal impressed the Jury with its clarity, imagination, and relevance to contemporary conversations about innovation and possibility. We are delighted to support the realization of this ambitious work and to welcome it into the Museum’s growing public art programme. The Ventures Platform–YSMA Futures Art Award demonstrates what is possible when cultural institutions and private-sector partners work together to invest in creativity and public engagement.”
For Ventures Platform, the Award forms part of its broader vision of supporting the systems, ideas, and people shaping Africa’s future.
According to Kola Aina, Founder and General Partner of Ventures Platform: “As we celebrate ten years of backing visionary founders across Africa, we wanted to create something that reflects our belief that innovation is not confined to technology or business alone. The future is also imagined through culture, creativity, and the stories we tell about ourselves. This Award represents an investment in imagination itself. Haneefah’s proposal captures that spirit beautifully, and we are excited to see it come to life as a public artwork that inspires curiosity, reflection, and optimism.”
The Award is one component of a broader three-year collaboration between Ventures Platform and YSMA, which also includes entrepreneurship-focused masterclasses, guest lectures, and student engagement initiatives within the Pan-Atlantic University ecosystem.
Supporting the long-term legacy of the programme is Atsur Technologies Ltd, the exclusive Provenance Infrastructure and Physical-Digital Documentation Partner for the Ventures Platform–YSMA Futures Art Award. Through this partnership, every commissioned artwork produced under the Award will be professionally digitized, authenticated, and recorded using Artsur’s provenance and collection management technology, ensuring robust documentation of the artist’s creative process, the artwork’s history, and its enduring place within Nigeria’s cultural record. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to strengthening transparency, documentation standards, and the long-term preservation of contemporary African artistic production using innovative technologies.
Commenting on her selection, Haneefah Adam expressed gratitude for the opportunity and excitement about the journey ahead.
“I am deeply honoured to be the inaugural recipient of the Ventures Platform–YSMA Futures Art Award. To have my work selected from among so many strong submissions is both humbling and encouraging. Bloom in Unexpected Places is rooted in the belief that creativity, hope, and transformation can emerge even in the most unlikely circumstances. I look forward to working with YSMA and Ventures Platform to bring this vision into the public realm and create a work that invites people to think differently about the future.”
Beyond the commissioning of a single artwork, the Ventures Platform–YSMA Futures Art Award seeks to establish a new model for collaboration between the cultural and innovation sectors. By positioning artists as active participants in conversations about technology, entrepreneurship, and societal transformation, the Award expands the ways in which the future can be imagined, questioned, and made visible.
As work begins on Bloom in Unexpected Places, the project signals a bold commitment by both Ventures Platform and YSMA to nurturing creative talent, supporting public art, and fostering interdisciplinary approaches to shaping the future.
